Medication and foaming

[twofatcats]

Actually, it seems I don't have a bath towel big enough to handle Red Cat. At least not the way I've ever tried it. Maybe if I could find a bath sheet, it might work. But the problem now would begin before I even get that far. I have to catch him unawares somewhere in the house, so he isn't expecting me. I carry him down to the bathroom where I have the counter space right against a wall to my left and place him on a towel. I've given up trying to get him in the towel, because he does NOT like to be covered and the fight would begin before I could even get the medication!

I'll have to think about how that might work trying it on the floor. Am not so sure about that. Methinks you are probably considerably younger than I am.

Red Cat would probably get away while I was groaning, trying to get down there!

I got a message, "We're sorry, this page can not be found" when I tried your link, but I'll go back and do a search for pill dispenser. Hope it is a short one.

 

[twofatcats]

Well, this time the link worked for me. That does look like a short one. Is that the one you have? The one I have that doesn't work is about 7½ inches long; just too awkward for my small hand. How long is yours?

 

[feralwhisperer]

Ask your vet for the long pill dispenser, I got mine from my vet.

Instead of a towel try a pillowcase. I hope this make senses
Roll the pillowcase and have it flat and open
Have the pill near the pillowcase
Get Redcat sit next to the the pillowcase
Pet Redcat until he's relaxed
Slow slide the open pillowcase under him
Pet him some more keep him relaxed and unaware
Roll the pillowcase up to his neck and hold it closed
As fast as you can give him the pill.
Pet him before you let him go, you alway want to start and end with the cat feeling good.

 

[twofatcats]

The long pill dispenser I have from the vet doesn't work. It is just too long for my fingers.

I'm afraid I don't understand how the pillowcase would help much, either. Maybe I'm dense. But since the cat's claws go right through my shirt or pants, they would certainly go right through the pillowcase. The pillowcase would have to be made of heavy turkish toweling or fleece. A simpler solution seems to be to get a shorter pill dispenser. The short one I had years ago worked with a previous cat, a former feral. Can't remember if I had it after I got Red Cat or not.

 

[feralwhisperer]

Maybe I'm dense

No you're not dense. My explaination is not clear, but I don't know how to explain it better. Sorry

How is Redcat doing? Is his belly healing at all?

Fern

 

[twofatcats]

No, Red Cat's poor belly doesn't seem to be healing. In fact, it looks worse than ever to me. And now he has scratched himself by his ears, too. I don't think the Amitriptyline is helping much, if at all, with the excessive grooming. Maybe Red Cat just isn't getting enough of it to do any good. He foams so much that I suspect there are times half of it ends up on the floor. Poor Red Cat.

 

[monica's six]

Originally Posted by twofatcats

Actually, it seems I don't have a bath towel big enough to handle Red Cat. At least not the way I've ever tried it. Maybe if I could find a bath sheet, it might work.

Yes I agree a regular bath towel probably isn't big enough. I actually use a Beach Towel because it's both long and wide enough. A bath sheet would work great too.

I think the pill despenser I have is a long one like you described. But if you can keep your cat from squirming you should be able to use the long one ok. The real key to giving any cat medicine is making sure the cat knows that for that brief time, you are in charge.

Any other time I would say you always want your cat to know that they are in charge, but medicine is important.

They also make those cat carrying bags that are like a pillow case but made out of thicker stronger fabric with a draw string on the open end. I think the towel idea is better personally, but maybe one of these bags might work too. I just think the bag gives the cat too much room to wiggle, throw their head around, kick and flip over and kick more... The idea with the towel is that it gently contains their legs and all movements. The only thing that should stick out of the end of the towel is their head. And even with that, my cat Zoey is the Queen of tossing her head back and forth... and even better she folds up her tongue so the pill will get stuck to it and then she can spit it out... I found out just how smart and determined Zoey really is when I had to give her medicine!

 

[twofatcats]

Just thought I'd let you know that I have finally located and ordered a pill dispenser that is only 4.5 inches long. Hurrah! That sounds about like the one I had years ago, and should work with my small hand and a very reluctant cat.

I had to laugh, though, as I was searching the web for information. Came across an article on how to pill a cat from a humane society somewhere. They even showed pictures - of one person holding the cat and the other using two hands to pill the cat.

Sure! If I had four hands, I could probably pill the cat, too!

 

[monica's six]

Where'd you find it?

-Monica.

 

[twofatcats]

At PetPeoplesPlace.com. It is called a Mikki Pill Gun for Cats and Dogs. Will see how it works when it gets here, but I am hopeful. I checked a lot of places previously that said theirs were the long ones, so was glad to finally find this.

 

[grissom]

I hope your kitty starts to feel better. Could the anxiety of all the pills and stuff actually be making his belly worse? I hope everything is okay!

 

[twofatcats]

Originally Posted by Grissom

Could the anxiety of all the pills and stuff actually be making his belly worse?

That is exactly what I have been wondering. He has become so needy lately! He has always wanted lots of petting, but usually in bed at night, while on the floor, etc. But he has become a real lap kitty in the past couple of weeks. I mean, he wants to spend hours on end in my lap! In spite of all the medications I have been giving him! (He usually only hates me for about five or ten minutes.)

The other behavioral change I see is that he hardly ever wants to go outside any more. Well, he does, but usually no more than an hour or so a day. Before at this time of year once or twice a week he just wouldn't come home from his outings until the middle of the night or the next morning. He is neutered, but from his behavior, you wouldn't have guessed it. The five years I've had him he has gone out on the town like that in the nice weather, only occasionally in the rainy winter months. But for the past two months, he has stuck close to home. He also hardly ever plays much any more. Sleeps hours more than he used to. So it does seem like maybe a psychological problem, but I have no idea what could have caused it.

 

[monica's six]

My cat Zoey was really extra clingy when I was stressing her out giving her this Liquid Anti-biotic. Once I got back to just giving her one pill a day she's gone back to normal. I definitely attributed Zoey's clingyness to being stressed out about getting medicine.

 

[nutterbutter]

This is exactly what my cat is going through. When I saw the photo of Red Cat's belly I knew that I had to contact you. Harriet has been through a lot in her little life. She was taken to the pound by a family who moved and didn't take her with them. My sister got her out of the pound, but she was never accepted by the other cats in the family. I think that is when the excessive licking began. The vet redid the incision from being spayed. There was a lot of scar tissue. The vet thought that's what may have started this. Then the other kitties "picked" on her. So she was in a room by herself until the others were banished to other rooms and Harriet could come out. She's had the e-collar and Tresaderm which helped for a while. After my cat died, Harriet came to live with me so that she could be an only kitty. I had everything under control for a while, but a few months ago the licking escalated to the point that now her belly looks like Big Red. My vet strongly urged me to go to the Veterinary Teaching Hospital at the University of Illinois. They spent two hours with Harriet. I was interviewed and Harriet had a battery of tests. The upshot is this: She had a strong reaction to cocklebur and orchard grass, but since she is an indoor cat this is unlikely to be the cause. The vet prescribed trimethaprim/sulfa, silver sulfadiazine ointment, and Elavil.
Getting the pills down have been near impossible. The foaming freaked me out. Putting it in food didn't work. So I ordered gelatin capsules and smashed the meds to put into the capsules. This did work. However, it is a two women job. I wish that I could give pills confidently like others. Also, Harriet is to wear a soft e-collar. It won't stay on. The vet also said that she could wear a T-shirt. She walks right out of it. I'm up to my eyeballs with frustration. If you or anyone else can give me advice, I would be most appreciative.
NutterButter (Nancy)

 

[twofatcats]

I still haven't solved the problems. In fact, things are even more complicated. Red Cat got worse than the photo in post 6, but I never was able to get photos of him at his worst. I switched to a litter without added fragrances for the past two weeks, and his belly is better, not nearly as red as even in the photo. But the only unscented litter I could find in the area was clay litter, which is a real pain in the fanny. I'm going on a trip next week, and I think I'm going to have to go back to the scented clumping while I'm gone, because my two cats are so picky about their litter being perfectly clean and the regular clay litter just isn't going to work with someone else coming in once a day while I'm gone. So I suspect we'll go backward again. After I get back I'll look into finding an unscented clumping litter, but will have to order it or go 80 miles or more to get it.

Though Red Cat's belly is better, it hasn't stopped him from licking. Not only that, but he has been flicking his ears and scratching his ears, neck and side. I found a flea on him in spite of using Advantage, so I thought maybe the problem is fleas and that he had developed an immunity to it. Went to the vet a week ago, but the vet just wanted me to re-apply Advantage after three weeks instead of waiting the usual four weeks. Did that. Red Cat still scratched his ears and elsewhere, but mostly ears. Went back to the vet today, thinking maybe it was ear mites. The vet looked again and said no, ears were clean, no mites, no infection. There was a little wax build up in the outer ear, which he cleaned out. I did get a prescription for Revolution, so I'll try that in about three weeks for fleas, in case the problem with the ears is still fleas.

The problem may be food allergy, but that was another problem which seems basically unsolvable. I got an expensive (like $18 for four pounds) non-allergenic food for him a month or more ago. Red Cat loved it - as long as it was only about one-third of his day's food. But he refuses to eat more than about one-fourth cup a day. Then he wants something else. That boy demands a varied diet! And as an overweight cat, losing weight too fast is particularly dangerous, so there just doesn't seem to be any way to solve that one. One can't do a food trial with a varied diet. Woe is me!

 

[nutterbutter]

I'm using Fresh Step and it is scented. Maybe I should switch to see if there is an improvement. I've had her on Science Diet IVD. It is a limited ingredient diet. Now here's the problem: I tried to hide her meds in the canned and now she won't eat it even when there is no medicine in it. Big Sigh! Lately I've given her Fancy Feast.
Do you use an E-collar? Hard or soft? Does it interfere with eating? Sorry Big Red hasn't improved. I'll keep you posted on Harriet's progress or lack of progress.
NutterButter (Nancy)

 

[twofatcats]

Yes, he had the e-collar - for only about 36 hours. It did interfere with eating, but that wasn't the biggest problem. It interferred with his digging to China in the litter box, too. But worst of all, Red Cat is such an anxious cat that when someone came to the door, he tried to tear up the stairs two at a time to go hide. Well, with that e-collar on, he would hit the collar against every step, and hit it hard. He'd also try to jump his usual jumps with it. (He commonly jumps up to a window sill 47 inches off the floor in one leap.) Again whenever he tried to do all these things, he'd bang that collar on the steps, on the wall or whatever. Within 36 hours he had worn off the hair in a ring about an inch wide around his neck and he was bleeding in one place. I just couldn't continue with it. I've thought of trying the soft collar, or even making a soft collar myself later. That is still a possibility, but I'll have to wait until I return from my trip. Too much going on now.

Because he is so anxious, I decided to try the Feliway Comfort Zone plug-in. I put it in the room both cats usually use the most often. Well, that day Red Cat decided to start spending his time upstairs in the living room instead. Or hiding in the furnace room. And both cats sleep upstairs with me in the bedroom at night. So I tried putting it in the bedroom. Then we got a couple of days of 84-86 degree weather, so I wanted upstairs windows open. No use spending my money on the Feliway and having the scents just going outside, so I unplugged it for several days. I plugged it back in a day or two ago when the weather cooled down, but Red Cat isn't spending much time in that room except at night, so I don't know how much effect it is going to have. I have such a large house, that I'd need about four of them to cover it all, which just isn't in the budget. It might be more effective in the winter, when I spend a lot of time in the sewing room and the cats like to stay with me.

Yes, keep us informed of what you find that works for you - and what you try that doesn't work!

 

[feralwhisperer]

Originally Posted by Nutterbutter

The vet also said that she could wear a T-shirt. She walks right out of it. I'm up to my eyeballs with frustration. If you or anyone else can give me advice, I would be most appreciative.
NutterButter (Nancy)

What about a babys onesies and cutting out a big hole so she can go to the litterbox.
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http://www.bizrate.com/buy/products_...--3198862.html

Originally Posted by twofatcats

I'm going on a trip next week, and I think I'm going to have to go back to the scented clumping while I'm gone, because my two cats are so picky about their litter being perfectly clean and the regular clay litter just isn't going to work with someone else coming in once a day while I'm gone. So I suspect we'll go backward again. After I get back I'll look into finding an unscented clumping litter, but will have to order it or go 80 miles or more to get it.

Twofatcat you have done so much for Redcat, you are such a good Mommy. When I go on vacation I put out extra litter boxes. I like Cat Prideâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s disposable litter tray. You can make disposable trays by stapling plastic to box bottoms.
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Originally Posted by twofatcats

The problem may be food allergy, but that was another problem which seems basically unsolvable. I got an expensive (like $18 for four pounds) non-allergenic food for him a month or more ago. Red Cat loved it - as long as it was only about one-third of his day's food. But he refuses to eat more than about one-fourth cup a day. Then he wants something else. That boy demands a varied diet! And as an overweight cat, losing weight too fast is particularly dangerous, so there just doesn't seem to be any way to solve that one. One can't do a food trial with a varied diet. Woe is me!

I have Psoriasis and know how uncomfortable skin problems are. When my Bubba start to show skin sensitivities I researched for the best cat food with high quality ingredients. Natural Balance has flax seed oil which is great for the skin.
http://www.naturalbalanceinc.com/products/catfood.html
http://www.naturalbalanceinc.com/products/VenCat.html


Good luck
Fern

 

[turtlecat]

Have you tried rubbing a light infusion of tea tree oil on his belly, or adding it to his cat shampoo? I know this is odd, however, I must say that the whatever it is in Tea Tree Oil has a soothing, cooling sensation to the skin

 

[nutterbutter]

I tried the Feliway plug in but nothing happened. Both vets that I talked with didn't like the hard e-collar because cats can get stuck in odd places with one. If it interferes with the litter pan, then there might be the risk of going just any old place. However, the soft e-collar doesn't stay on Harriet.The directions said to lace it through the cat's collar if it didn't stay. I thought she was going to hang herself trying to get it off. I think it is wishful thinking, but I thought Harriet's belly looked better today after 1 dose of antibiotic. (Yeah, it's wishful thinking.)
NutterButter (Nancy)